Crackdown on crime: The ACT Government plans to bolster support for the DPP with increased funding.
The ACT government will provide extra resources to enable the ACT office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to employ four additional staff to help tackle local criminal gangs.
The governments’ commitment of $970,000 across two years will enable the DPP to seize criminal assets which will deprive criminals and criminal organisations of the financial proceeds of crime.
Due to the increased referrals from ACT Policing in regards to the confiscation of criminal assets, there has been a surge in the demand for extra resources to support the DPP.
The extra resourcing is the latest in a string of measures introduced by the ACT government to tackle serious and organised crime.
Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay said the extra funding and resources are to ensure the DPP and ACT Policing have the necessary tools to deal with serious and organised criminal gangs.
“This extra funding we have allocated for the DPP complements the extra resourcing ACT Policing has allocated to address criminal gangs,” Mr Ramsay said.
“By allowing greater capacity to confiscate criminal assets that are identified through ACT Policing investigations, we are ensuring that offenders won’t benefit financially from their criminal activities.”
“The ACT Government continues to work with the DPP and ACT Policing to ensure they have the necessary tools to effectively deal with serious and organised criminal gangs and, wherever possible, to confiscate their criminal assets and put offenders before the courts,” Mr Ramsay said.
During the 2016-17 financial year, six residential properties were forfeited to the Territory with a total value of $1.1 million due to illegally acquired money.
$720,000 in cash, vehicles and other property was forfeited with a further $1.8 million worth of real estate, cash, vehicles and other property restrained.
In August 2016, the ACT Government committed an additional $8.3 million in Taskforce Nemesis, funding over five years employing eight additional staff.
Mr Ramsay assured the local community that Canberra is still a very safe city to live in.
“While Canberra remains a very safe city to live in, we are not immune to the presence and activities of criminal gangs, including those who travel from interstate.”
Do you think that increased resources from the ACT government will make a difference in stopping organised crime and criminal gangs in Canberra? Let us know your thoughts below.
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